[ale] OT: Electronic Voting in GA

[John Mills]

Danny -

Sorry to fuel an 'OT', but there are some interesting technical issues in
this.

On 18 Oct 2002, Danny Cox wrote:

> 	Just to really make your weekend:  today, I recieved in the mail a
> pamplet describing how the new electronic voting machines in GA will
> work!  They're secure!  They're accurate!  They're fast!  They're
> completly un-auditable!

I got the flyer (which confirms what the newspapers have said for weeks
and the Ga.Sec.State for ~20 months), but didn't expect nor look for
technical details. What do you mean by 'un-auditable' here, and what would
you like to see?

How would you compare auditing a direct-electronic voting system with
auditing a state's old-style mechanical lever machines?

The question of a _recount_ is moot for the direct-electronic systems I've
seen (or commonly it is implemented trivially), but I don't know that is
equivalent to 'un-auditable'. The system has to reasonably protect the
anonymity of voters, so a serial list of ballot images raises some real
issues (though I think it could be done satisfactorally).

None of the physical media for ballot counting systems are great either!

 - John Mills


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